The Granville County Board of Education has reversed its previous decision to consolidate southern-end high schools and voted unanimously at a Thursday work session to keep all three high schools in operation.
The school board also voted to cancel its previous plans for district consolidation and reorganization and instead will make all elementary schools K-6 next year. School attendance zones will not change; elementary-school students will spend an extra year at their current school before moving to a middle school, which will become Grades 7-8 schools.
By keeping South Granville High School at its Creedmoor campus, G.C. Hawley Middle School students will attend Butner-Stem Middle School, where school leaders say there is sufficient space to merge the two student groups, according to information from Dr. Stan Winborne, associate superintendent and public information officer.
Board member Amanda LaBrecque shared a presentation that laid out plans the board ultimately supported, which called for adding sixth graders to all elementary campuses.
The presentation, titled “A Temporary Solution,” is a three-pronged approach to consolidation while addressing short-term and long-term needs.
Part 1 – K-6: Move all sixth-grade classrooms into the elementary schools, district-wide and include an district intramural sports league for sixth graders.
Part 2 – 7 & 8: As a result of this move, Butner-Stem Middle School can accommodate seventh and eighth graders from both G.C. Hawley and Butner-Stem, with room for growth
Part 3 – 9-12: Enrichment hub: Granville Central High School will act as an enrichment hub for students district-wide to attend advanced courses and additional electives – foreign language courses, for example. The plan proposes that buses shuttle students to minimize the need for student driving. Career Technical Education classes will not be part of the enrichment hub.
The proposed plan also looks at the short-term (3-5 years), 5-year, and 10-year intervals with various possible scenarios, depending on future growth in the county and student enrollment in the school district, Winborne explained.
Following LaBrecque’s presentation, Winborne stated “the board engaged in a thorough discussion regarding various aspects of (the) presentation, shared ideas and posed a variety of questions.” Following the discussion, two motions were approved, one for the reorganized schools and grade levels and a second to take a closer look at options for the closure of the Hawley Middle School campus.
The first motion passed 7-0 which basically restated the information detailed in the presentation regarding the school changes for the 2021-22 school year.
The board also agreed with the concept of making an “enhancement hub” at Granville Central High School for specialized courses offered in the school district. Winborne stated that this may allow students to cross-enroll in advanced placement and other specialized courses using innovation and creative instruction models.
View the full presentation HERE.
The second motion, which also passed unanimously, calls for creation of a formal study of the closure of Hawley Middle School and the merging of Hawley students to Butner-Stem Middle School.
“This motion does not result in any immediate actions that impact students or families,” Winborne stated. “Rather, it begins the process to direct staff to gather and develop information to create a formal study of the closure of G.C. Hawley, which may then be presented to the board, possibly in February of 2022. A public hearing must be held prior to any decision to close G.C. Hawley Middle School.”
Live streaming, video recordings, agendas and exhibits of all oard meetings, including full copies of all school closure studies may be found on BoardDocs HERE.